–not your momma's goulash–

Month: December 2011

When Erin recently linked me to a blog post by Delia Creates, I immediately bookmarked it with mulitple stars. I knew I would get back to it when I had the chance. When Mary Wade (my first-ever-Mom-friend) had a birthday, the lightbulb when off (on?), and I whipped up a little something for her.

Pei’s old, semi-girly, cashmere sweater was begging to be upcycled into something seriously girly! I followed Delia’s tutorial as I got started, and then I went off on my own a bit. The underside is a fun fleece from Joann’s, purchased 2 years ago I think (wasn’t there last time I checked).

Though I attempted other options, the flower wound up being my own whimsical success. Working with a long length of the cashmere (20 inches by 4 inches or so), I folded the piece in half and began to hand gather and twist until it looked cool. Then, I just stitched it until it stayed put, and later attached it to the headband.

Another mini-victory was that I happened to have a button on hand that matched perfectly! Choosing to go with a button closure gave me some good ol’ button-holeing practice on the machine too. A valuable skill indeed!

And without further ado…Mary!

Work it girl! That little guy there is “Baby Bobby”, Mary’s third baby, who is also decked in Hungie Gungie gear (a bib from Erin, and a bjorn cozy from me).

Forget it boys, she’s married (and the mother of 3, so…).

A look from behind:

Ah, I love it! I have a feeling I will be stuck on making these for a while. You don’t mind do you?

She is the dress-up queen in these parts, but unfortunately has worn all of her tutus and dresses to the point of no return… if you saw her cinderella dress, you’d probably think I don’t brush her teeth, or wash her hair. It’s pretty torn up- luckily, she’s been very specific about her wants from Santa. More dress-up. I don’t think I have the energy to create a dress a la Glinda the good witch (her new fave lady)…. But a tutu?

I can do that.

I used a pattern from the book Oliver + S Little Things to Sew which is chock full of great things to make for children. I’ve already made the bucket hat for Grant this past Summer, and I have another project from the book in the works for Ellery. Anyway, this particular tutu is made with 5 different colors of tulle, folded over at the waist (so yeah, actually 10 layers when finished), gathered at the fold, and sewn onto a wide piece of grosgrain ribbon. I would say this was an somewhat easy project- but at the same time, to work with mountains of tulle for the first time wasn’t something I was used to. I used a size 10 needle (i generally use a 12), but that’s really the only thing I changed from my normal sewing.

I love that the tutu is longer than most, and that it has some serious volume.

I especially love the bow at the back:

I wanted to stay away from the typical ballet pink, mostly because I had already bought a black leotard and I was feeling a little black swanish that day… I found the burgundy ribbon on sale at Michael’s and was inspired to make her tutu eggplant colored- I lucked out at Joann’s one day- all of their tulle was 60% off. sa-weet!. The undermost layer of tulle is very pale pink, then it goes into a ballet pink color, burgundy, deep purple, and finally black.

I seriously cannot wait to see my child prancing around the house in this.

I also can’t wait to see her face when she opens a box to find this little cutie…

A mini version for her baby doll.

I had so much tulle left over, and I happened to buy the same color ribbon in a smaller size since it was a steal, so it was a no brainer… and seriously, this came together in like 15 minutes flat!

Don’t worry. I’m stopping there. I don’t think anyone wants to see me walking around in a maternity tutu.

I finally finished what had been “on the needles” for over a year now: MY FIRST SWEATER!

It is the wrap top from Easy Baby Knits, by Claire Montgomery. I fell in love with the photos of this sweater in the book, and hoped to have completed the 18-24 month size for Avery last year (when she was actually that age). Fortunately, she can still squeeze into it.

I have to say I am really proud of this one. I was hasseled by it a bit, and even communicated with the author via her blog http://www.montyknits.blogspot.com/ ( to work out the sloping neckline instructions). But, I stuck with it, fixed my errors (thank you Grayson!), and it turned out beautifully.

I splurged on the high-end satin ribbon, because it was too perfect to pass up. How do I stop the fraying? I tried the lighter, but the fibers wanted to flame up rather than melt.

Knitting is something I really enjoy, but it requires a lot of sitting down, which I do not do very well (I am my mother’s daughter 😉 ). However, there is something really neat about having crafted every stitch of your garment by hand. I must knit more!

I also knit these sweet pants:

And, a “popcorn scarf” for me:

Thanks for visiting! Now, go finish something you’ve started!

~Caroline

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